In my role as FamNet Sysadmin, April was an interesting month. The move to cloud hosting at Amazon was not without its drama, but eventually I was able to get the newsletter out with the new mail server and, now that everything is sorted out it looks as if it will become more routine and simpler than it was before. More of that below in “From the Developer”.

We were delighted with the response to our plea for help with editing the newsletter, and a couple more volunteers have joined our editorial team. I’m struggling to keep up: I really need to have a lot of contributors so that the editor’s job is just bringing it all together, and I can go back to just writing my “From the Developer” section. We may have to drop the newsletter to once every two months for a while unless I get more help. If you have anything that you'd like to contribute, either as a one-off or you'd like to become a regular contributor, then please Contact me with your ideas. Wouldn’t it be great if we had so many contributions that we couldn’t publish them all?

In this issue: -

J Weir Funeral Services of Onehunga have gone into liquidation. Like, I imagine, many such businesses they have a number of urns of ashes that have never been claimed, and the liquidators are very keen to find families for these remains. Can you help? See Stop Press for a list of the names, and contact information.

I have taken a month off from my Jazz project to implement some FamNet program changes so that there are a lot more improvements in the software this month than usual. The changes that I’ve made are detailed in my “From the Developer” section.

Gail continues her series on DNA Testing for Genealogy by discussing some of the relevant web sites, blogs, and forums. There will be at least two more articles in this series, more if you email her with suggestions and questions.

In Wairarapa Wanderings Adele has a connection between Carterton and the Battle of Little Bighorn (Custer’s Last Stand). John’s article is the story of the preservation of the historic military buildings on North Head.

Finally, check out David Mullin’s information request. Can you help?

Back to the Top

Stop Press: Unclaimed Ashes. Can You Help?

J Weir and Co were in business since 1897. The most recent owners of the business have traded since 2003 first in Ponsonby and then latterly in Onehunga, Auckland. The company recently went into liquidation and the liquidator has been left with over 200 unclaimed ashes. A list has been compiled of all these ashes and the liquidators have been able to find next of kin for many. However, they are struggling to find details for the list of people below. If subscribers of this newsletter recognise any of these names or are willing to research these people on behalf of the liquidators, please email Jessica Meurant at jessica@restructuring.co.nz.

First name	Middle or other names	Surname
Rudolf	Ludwig	Albrechet
Howard		Alldred
Edward	Robert	Anderson
Albert		Annan
Herbert	John David	Bartram
Woody (aka Charles W)		Bates
Neville	William	Belday
Miriam	Frances	Bell
Elsis	Margaret	Bell-Booth
Peter	Charles	Bennett
Phyllis	Irene	Bickerton
Vincent	Angela	Bigeni
Arnold	Frank	Bird
Owen	Ross	Bishop
Vernon	Alex	Blockley
Peter		Blundell
John	Ernest	Bosley
Mervyn	Ross	Bradburn
Graham	Arthur	Brown
William		Brown
William		Brown
Maxwell	Henry	Burmester
Albert	Francis	Byron
Cheryl		Casey
Graham	Lyndon	Cates
Frances	Lily	Christopher
Lisle	Nelson	Clark
Alan		Clark
Heather	Rose	Cochrane
Robert	Walter	Colquhoun
Dominic		Connerton
Esther	Mary	Cooper
Constantine		Coulalias
Paul		Court
Elizabeth	Violet	Coyle
Theresa		Crawley
Bruce		Crilly
Audrey		Croft
Dawn	Marie	Davies
Daisy	Edna	Davies
David		Dixon
Majorie		Durbridge
Mark		Elias
William	Arnold	Ellis
John	Francis	Elmsley
Neville	John	England
Michael		Evans
Paima		Fesolai
Noel	Victor	Finer
Reginald	Peter	Flecher
Frederick		Foote
Roy	Earnest	Frederick
Hubert	George	Grant
David	Stanley	Graves
Colin		Green
Ethel	May	Gregory
Peter	Samuel	Hakaraia
Ada	Lucina	Harker
Olive	May	Hart
May		Harvey
Gwen	Una	Harwood
Kenneth	John	Head
Patricia		Hessell
Daphne	Grace Irene	Hogan
Clarence	James	Hook
Thomas	William	Horsepool
Heather		Howse
Gertrude	Margaret	Hutchinson
Illiatlia	Starwoman	Johannson
Anne-Marie	(Amelia Dorothy)	Jones
James		Kerr
Robert		Kirkby
Ray	Andrew	Kristofersen
Stuart	Alan	Larsen
Linton		Leaf
Adrionus		Lentz
Eric		Liddy
Eric		Liddy
Jack		Logan
Betty	Esme	Lowe
Tony	James	Malone
Francis	Neville	Manning
Alexander	David	McCord
Stephen	Blair	McCready
Althia	Kathleen	McDiarmid
Desmond	David	McDiarmid
Mary		McDonald
James		McDonald
Archibald		McElroy
Shamus		McGinty
Michael		McGuire
June		Meierhofer
Gaven		Miller
Edna	Edith	Mines
Duncan	Ian	Mitchell
Leone		More
Derek		Morgan
Rewe	Jack	Moynihan
George		Murphy
Thomas	Percy	Murray
Alan		Mussellwhite
David	Roy	Neno
Teiangaro		Noolai
Pamela		O'Connell
Isabella	Gillies	O'Donnell
Ronald	Val	Ollerenshaw
Dennis	Graham	O'Neill
Glenys		Page
Bruce	Nooroa	Pamatatau
Raymond	Hector	Pearce
Brian		Percy
Peter	Ernest	Phethean
Douglas		Pollard
Ray		Prier
Dermont	Clifton	Quinnel
Eric		Reid
Beverly		Riggs
Neil		Robertson
Irene	Isabel	Robertson
David	Frederick	Robinson
Shirley	Florence	Robson
Hans	Ernst	Rouw
Arthur	Stanley	Rowe
Glennard		Rowe
Anthony	Keith	Saints
Colin	Ray	Sanders
Trevor	Roy	Scotson
James		Shanks
James	Stewart	Simm
Lydia	May	Simmons
Molia	Joseph	Sio
Robert	Cameron	Smith
Peter		St John
Avis	Emily	Stevenson
Trevor	James	Stockbridge
Frederick		Stone
Patricia	Mary	Stone
Marlon	Bassie	Stone
Rosemary	Victoria	Stroobant
Fraser	Edward Kenneth	Tedesco
John	Patrick	Templer
Ralph	Travis	Thompson
Enid		Townsend
Cornelius	Everadus	van Poppell
Gordon	Arthur	Vincent
James	Patrick	Walsh
Ian	Keith	Watson
Ian	Keith	Watson
Peter	Rex	Williamson
James		Woodward
Valda		Woolley
Neil	Henry	Wootlon-Grace
Robert	John	Wotzko

From the Developer

New Newsletter Process

With our change to cloud hosting the way that we send out our newsletters has changed. April’s newsletter was the first sent from Amazon, and although there were a few teething problems newsletter delivery was better than before, and promises to be even easier in the future.

For those of you who have spam filters that require that FamNet be an approved email sender, note that you’ll no longer be getting newsletters from robert.barnes@xtra.co.nz. All future emails will come from sysadmin@famnet.org.nz, so would you please add this to your approved sender list.

Another change: I have created a page for you to manage your own newsletter status (subscribe/unsubscribe) and changes of email. Just go to the About You page, which you’ll find from a link at the bottom of the newsletter and also from the [About You] button on the FamNet Home Page. There you can turn newsletters on and off, change your email, update your profile, and so on. Any change you make is logged, and also if you are not logged on then FamNet will send out emails confirming the changes that you’ve just made. As well as saving a lot of errors compared to the previous manual procedure where I received an email and had to take appropriate action (and messing up was not unknown), I’m hoping that people will actually find this much easier.

110K GDB Records Made Public

FamNet applies rules to determine whether a record is public or private. One of these rules is: if there is a date of birth and if this is more than 99 years ago, the record can be public as it’s a reasonable assumption that the person is dead. This rule is applied when you upload your records or edit them, but what if time has passed since the records were last changed? Recently I updated the database to set public all records that were originally private but are now qualified to be public. About 110,000 records were set to public. Who knows, some of these may be of interest to you.

Cenotaph Records – Time For You To Help

The point of this project is to link Cenotaph and FamNet, so that from a FamNet record you can open the corresponding Cenotaph record, and from Cenotaph you can open the corresponding FamNet records. The Cenotaph/FamNet link software has been completed to “Review” stage. If you have ancestors who fought for New Zealand in World War 1, we now need your help to validate the links between the two systems. If you’re interested in soldiers in other conflicts, be patient, we’ll get around to these after we’ve reviewed this stage of the project.

1. Locating Which Cenotaph Record you want

Click the button “Cenotaph links” that you’ll find on the home page, and enter the name of your World War 1 soldier. Click [Search]. There may be many soldiers with this name: for example there are 10 soldiers named “George Barnes”: -

Our first task is to select which Cenotaph record is to be linked to the FamNet record. Select a Cenotaph record by clicking one of the ID links, and check that this is the record that is wanted by clicking [View Cenotaph Record]. Even if there is only one name in the list, don’t assume that this is your ancestor, always look at the Cenotaph record to make sure.

In this case the record we want is the 7th, with ID C77513.

Editing Links – Why do we have to do this?

In the Cenotaph database there are a few hundred thousand records, while there are millions of records in FamNet. We want to link Cenotaph and FamNet records, but obviously a simple name match won’t work. We have 10 soldiers named George BARNES in Cenotaph, and a FamNet search for George Barnes born before 1989 finds 145 records. Which FamNet record relates to each of the 10 Cenotaph records? A link table exists to relate records in the two systems. The link table is simply a table of matching record keys: -

Initially the link table was created by a simple query that matched names, but this is too crude to be anything other than a starting point. Many matches are missed: for example my Uncle Albert is “Albert BARNES” in Cenotaph but “Albert Paul BARNES” in FamNet, so the query didn’t even find these matches. And where there are several soldiers with the same name, like the four George BARNES records, each will be linked to all of the George BARNES records in FamNet. So what we need is a human review: adding in the links that we miss, confirming the true links that we’ve found, and noting as “False” links where the wrong Cenotaph/FamNet links have been created. This is where you come in: if you have a NZ soldier in your records we’d like you to check the Cenotaph/FamNet links. There are two steps to this, handling the unconfirmed links to determine whether they are true or false matches, and adding new links where the initial query hasn’t created them (like my Uncle Albert).

Editing Links – How? 1: Dealing With Unconfirmed Links

Click [Edit FamNet Links]: the Cenotaph Search options disappear, and the page now contains a list of the link records that have been found so far. The list is colour-coded with unconfirmed links being white. Click on the FamNet Name and the corresponding FamNet record opens.

To confirm (or not) a link, open the FamNet record. Here we’re clicking the last (white) line. It opens with a special section just below the subject’s name: -

Check Yes or No and this will become: -

On return to the previous page the link will have become green if you clicked “Yes” and there are scrapbook items, turquoise if there are no scrapbook items. The link will be removed from the list if you clicked “No”. As well as the record that you selected, FamNet will find or create links for all duplicate records and give these links the same status.

In the Scrapbook section of the FamNet record there will be a link, identified as “Cenotaph*” if this is an unconfirmed link, and “Cenotaph” if confirmed. Clicking this opens the Cenotaph record.

Editing Links – 2: Creating New Links

Below the FamNet Links table is a general FamNet search. Use this to create links, for example linking Cenotaph’s “Albert BARNES” with FamNet’s “Albert Paul BARNES”. Review the search criteria and then click [Search] and the potential FamNet matches are found. As you select records from this list: -

1. They are added to the list of confirmed links, appearing as a green or turquoise line in the upper grid

2. Any duplicate records are also added to the list of confirmed links.

3. The record is removed from the search list

I hope you find all this easy to use. Let me know of any difficulties you have and if I can I’ll make improvements. Click Help for this page to learn more.

General Changes to FamNet

The Charts function has now been restored, and its capacity increased. Previously there was no problem creating an hourglass chart for Hannah OLD which showed 164 people, but the function choked when I attempted to do the same for her father, John OLD. 2904 people was just too much for the program to cope with! Now it works, although with a chart this large it is very slow and in practice you’ll probably want to limit the number of descendent generations. I printed this chart once: even at 50% scaling it is still takes 141 pages of A4 to print.

I’ve been making a few changes to FamNet to try to make it more attractive and less complex. I’m not sure if I’ve improved things or merely changed them. Please let me know, I’d really welcome feedback.

I’ve changed the navigator-bar default: it is now hidden until you click [Show Navigator Bar]. This is supposed to make the page cleaner and more mobile-friendly. Some of the key functions of the navigator bar are now carried in the page header, help links are in the page footer, and the last 10 GDB records are now carried in the body of the home page. Contact links will be carried in the About Us page, but I haven’t done that yet. I’m trying to make the home page more attractive by displaying a series of images showing some of FamNet’s features.

I hope I’ve made the logon simpler: now you simply enter your email or userid and buttons then appear to either log on or to register as a new user. Hopefully this will reduce the problem where returning users were clicking [New User] and creating another logon when they should have been re-using their first one.

More changes to come.

Telling your story

I’ve taken up enough space for this issue so I won’t add another chapter in this series this month. So far I’ve covered these topics.

1. Writing your story as notes, or with Word. Embedding links in Word documents.

2. Embedding pictures in Word documents.

3. Saving Documents for Web Publication.

4. Saving Scrapbook Items

5. Sharing your Story: Managing your Family Group

If there’s anything that you particularly want me to cover next then let me know, otherwise I’ll continue working to this plan: -

6. Other Facts.

7. Discarding and Deleting Records

8. Duplicates and other GDB Links

9. Comparing and Synchronizing Records

10. Shared trees – Working With Others

Back to the Top

DNA Testing for Family History

Just click the link to go back to a previous article in this series.

1. What is Molecular Genealogy?

2. Where would I begin?

3. What test should I take?

4. What DNA will NOT tell you and the risks involved.

5. Direct paternal line (men only).

6. Direct maternal line (men and women).

7. All the lineages including maternal and paternal (men and women).

8. Understanding direct paternal results.

9. Understanding direct maternal line results.

10. Understanding your Autosomal ("cousin") results.

11. Understanding the X Chromosome.

12. Bits ‘n Bobs: DNA Testing Companies, Glossary.

DNA Websites, Blogs, and Forums

This is an ‘add-on’ article by Gail Riddell on the subject of DNA testing for genealogy purposes. For further information, please contact her directly at riddellDNA@gmail.com

This is a mixture of all sorts but includes blogs and forums for you to consider in your journey into genetic genealogy. Some items will be repeats from previous articles. Others will be new. Whether experienced or a beginner, I hope there is something here for everyone.

Next month’s article will be “Frequently Asked Questions”, so if you have questions this is a great opportunity to add them to the list that I’m already covering. Beyond that, write and suggest a topic if there’s anything you want me to cover.

Some Websites With More Information

Company

23andMe

Family Tree DNA’s Family Finder test

Ancestry.com's AncestryDNA test

National Geographic Genographic Project Geno 2.0 test

Chromo2 test

Additional information about the test

See:

· YGG: 23andMe New Ancestry Painting First Look

· DNA-ExP: New Worldview at 23andMe

· YGG: Comparison and Analysis from 23andMe

· CruwysBlog: 23andMe's New Ancestry Composition

See:

· TGG: FTDNA's Family Finder P1

· TGG: FTDNA's Family Finder P2

· CruwysBlog: The new Family Finder test from FTDNA

See:

· YGG: Multiple Posts March 2012

· YGG: AncestryDNA, Raw Data and RootsTech

· YGG: My Review of AncestryDNA's Admixture Tool

· DNA-ExP: Ancestry Autosomal Results are Back

· DNA-ExP: Ancestry's Mythical Admixture Percentages

· YGG: Ken Chahine Answers My Questions and Reveals Behind the Scenes Information

· TGG: Problems with AncestryDNA's Genetic Ancestry Prediction

· TGG: A Review of AncestryDNA's New Autosomal DNA Test

· CruwysBlog: My updated ethnicity results from AncestryDNA - a British perspective

See:

· YGG: National Genographic and FTDNA

· DNA-ExP: National Geographic Geno 2.0 Announcement the Human Story

· GeneAlem:

· TGG: The Genographic Project Announces Geno 2.0

· YGG: My Geno 2.0 Results Step-by-Step

· DNA-ExP: Geno 2.0 Results Kicking the Tires

· YGG: Archive 1-11-2012

· CruwysBlog: Genographic Results from UK

See:

· CruwysBlog: A First Look at the Chromo2 All My Ancestry Test from BritainsDNA

· CruwysBlog: A First Look at BritainsDNA Chromo2 Y

· Tim Janzen's Chromo2: A First Look

· A review from DNA Testing Choice

Blogs

1. The Genetic Genealogist examines the intersection of traditional genealogical techniques and modern genetic research. The blog also explores the latest news and developments in the related field of personal genomics. To learn more about me or about genetic genealogy, please explore the site. http://www.thegeneticgenealogist.com/about-genetic-genealogy/

2. This is a series of papers on DNA testing as opposed to being a straight blog. https://sites.google.com/site/wheatonsurname/beginners-guide-to-genetic-genealogy/lesson-one-an-overview-of-the-types-of-dna-used-by-genetic-genealogists

3. One of the most reliable blogs there is – Judy is so very GOOD!. http://www.legalgenealogist.com/

4. Roberta is always putting something different out there – well worth book marking.

http://dna-explained.com/2014/02/10/strs-vs-snps-multiple-dna-personalities/

5. Although these two sites are neither blogs nor forums, they both offer free Y-DNA tests for certain surnames, so well worth keeping a note of… http://www.isogg.org/wiki/Free_DNA_tests https://www.facebook.com/groups/freedna/

6. Here is a Facebook page for Aussies and Kiwis https://www.facebook.com/groups/400009620157960/

Most projects now have their own in-house forum – it is named “Activity Feed”.

7. This is NEITHER a blog nor forum, but I came across this some time ago – she is highly recommended as a London researcher.

http://londonrootsresearch.blogspot.co.uk/p/about-rosemary-morgan.html

8. Here is one for adoptees

http://britishgenes.blogspot.ca/2014/09/relatives-of-adopted-adults-now-able-to.html

9. For the newbie dna-newbie-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

10. Kitty Cooper is always good to read. http://blog.kittycooper.com/category/dna-genealogy/

11. For those of you who like Rootsweb, have a look at this http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/other/DNA/GENEALOGY-DNA.html

This is only a smattering - there are many, many more. DNA is a HUGE topic.

The New Zealand DNA Geographic project - see https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/new-zealand has a links section in the left hand menu (or navigation pane) which has numerous DNA and genealogical links which were still working a month or so ago – there are many more to add as I find time to check them out. To go straight to the links section, just click on

https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/new-zealand/links You will already be familiar with many of these. I would appreciate learning of any others that you have found invaluable and checking them out myself please.

If you want further articles, you will have to write as I am uncertain where next to go or what to consider. You will find me at riddelldna@gmail.com

Back to the Top

Group News

Whangarei Family History Computer Group

Contacts:

Gloria: (022) 635 4161 barryandgloria33@gmail.com

Wayne: (09) 437 2881 wayne@bydand.co.nz

Pat: (09) 437 0692 whangareifamilyhistorygroup@gmail.com

Venues

Thursday evening venue is 6 Augusta Place, Whau Valley. Call Wayne, Gloria or me or;

email me at Whangareifamilyhistorygroup@gmail.com, if you need directions. **NB new Thursday venue

Saturday meetings are held in the SeniorNet rooms in James Street.

The rooms are upstairs in the Arcade leading to Orr’s Pharmacy and Tiffany’s Café, Start time 9.30 til finished before 1.30pm.

Meetings have been busy with helping new members in their research as a live exercise at the meetings, which makes for a lot of fun for all. One suggestion put forward is to establish special interest support groups for members using the two main genealogy apps FTM and Legacy.

Waikanae Family History Group

Contacts:

Email: wfhgroup@paradise.net.nz Phone (04) 904 3276, (Hanley Hoffmann)

Venue: Meets every 4^th Thursday morning at the Waikanae Chartered Club, 8 Elizabeth Street Waikanae, just over the Railway Crossing from 9.30am to 12 -12.30pm, every month from January to November. Research days planned for either 2^nd or 3^rd Thursdays at 9.30am approximately four times a year.

For further information about why we did this, and why your group should also join FamNet contact Hanley Hoffmann.

From the May Newsletter – Breaking News.

Just had an email from my first cousin Hanley Armstrong, Dubbo NSW. His son downloaded Jean Mary O’Reilly’s (Armstrong) WAAAF file from her service during WW2, and ho ho ho, Aunty put her age up because she was not 21, needing parents’ consent; she was only 20. But wait there is more! The National Archives of Australia staff has withheld some information which they did not think that Hanley (number two) or Philip, his son should see. So an appeal has been lodged seeking access to that info and they say that there will be a reply on or about 12^th June. Fast service! So watch this space. As I am the oldest grandchild of Thomas Hanley O’Reilly & Amelia Ann Beazley, my cousin is asking why my Aunt would have avoided having to get parental consent to enlist. I won’t go into a long explanation here suffice to say that Amelia was a very controlling mother, she would have refused to consent. I knew her well: she lived just two miles away, and I was boarded out to her every time another one of my five siblings was born. These are the things that make family history fun – I can’t wait!

If you are searching the NAA site for a soldier’s file or a service woman, as is this case, and they (the National Archives of Australia staff) enclose a letter about “stuff” they have withheld from your download, then appeal on family history grounds as my cousin has done here, (and with urging from me) because in this instance my aunt is long since deceased, and no harm could be done. I suggested to my cousin that she seduced and slept with the commanding officer – that was naughty of me, because she actually married a soldier, Sergeant Edward Ashley Armstrong, while they were both still serving. And I pointed out to my cousin Hanley, that she was eventually discharged on compassionate grounds – she was expecting her first child – Hanley was born six months later.

Hanley Hoffmann

Back to the Top

News and Views

We invite contributions from FamNet members for this section: please The Editor if you have any material. Contributions received after the 22nd of each month may be carried forward.

Wairarapa Wandering

Clareville Cemetery, Carterton.

There is one grave at my local early settlers cemetery, where I am researching, that always intrigues me for some reason. Sir William Stuart-Forbes, his wife and some of his daughters are buried there, and I often go to re read the headstone. Who were they, what is the attraction for this taphophile? Even today when I know the history of the family I am often up there at the grave. Sir William remarried when Lady Marion Stuart-Forbes died in the late 1890s. One little daughter, Hilda Hiley, a wee toddler, died before her mother. The name “Hiley” is from her uncle, Walter Hiley, of Thorpe Arch, Yorkshire, brother in law to Sir William.

I became so interested in this particular family because John, brother to Sir William, went to fight with Custer and lost his life in the Battle of Little Bighorn. John was also the godfather to little Hilda Hiley, his niece here in Carterton. This side of the Forbes family was just Forbes at first, but when an uncle died the title went to this side of the family and it became Stuart-Forbes. John already had the middle name of Stuart, and so he was known as John Stuart Stuart-Forbes. The sons of Charles Hay Forbes and Jemima Rebecca of Canaan, Edinburgh Park (John’s parents) had lived in Rugby when the family were young, hence the sons going to Rugby School; they have assisted me in my research. If you lived in the town of Rugby you got free schooling at this prestigious school, Rugby in Warwickshire. John did a few things out of character, and decided to leave England and go to USA. He came to visit his family here in Carterton, New Zealand. Then return to the USA he enlisted with Custer as John Hiley, sadly lost his life in the Battle of Little Bighorn. When they checked his trunk they found a letter from home, and this way they found his true identity; he was from a titled family, not Hiley but Stuart-Forbes.

Whilst doing this research I put on a NZ site, “Anyone living in Edinburgh please”. A reply came back almost immediately from Jane, a wonderful lady. I said “Could you please visit St John’s Church and photograph anything and everything there for John Stuart Stuart-Forbes”. She came up trumps, not only emailed me items, but also posted some to me, I was thrilled. Then I heard of a couple going to Montana…oh I wanted photographs of the Monuments there… so this was done for me as well. I have shared them to Historical Societies and family here in NZ; I found a friend in Auckland was one of the family. She had visited Carterton with a friend doing his history, and I had taken them to the cemetery, but she never once mentioned any family being in the town. She admitted months later that she had no idea where in NZ they had been, it was only when I sent a news letter out and included them as well that she read of the Stuart-Forbes family and she telephoned me.

So May 17^th 1876 John enlisted with Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer, and died in the battle in June 1876. In Burkes Peerage for Scotland, they have not entered John Stuart Stuart-Forbes with the family, perhaps whoever sent in the information had no idea about this family member. What history in the family has been uncovered, and all through doing Clareville Early Settlers Cemetery! MANDAN Historical Society very kindly sent me a photograph the other year which they have on their write up on John, this is possibly the only photograph of John. Back in 2004 I was contemplating a visit to Montana on my way back to NZ from London but didn’t do it. There was to be a memorial for the soldiers and I would have represented the family had I been able to go. With the men who had enlisted with Custer, quite a few men from British Isles enlisted as well. I have all the names in the file under Stuart-Forbes.

Adele Pentony-Graham

Carterton Early Settlers Researcher.

Jan’s Jottings

Hooked on Genealogy Tours presents: -

SLC2NZ (Salt Lake City (Family History Library) to New Zealand)!!!

23-26 Oct 2015, Auckland

Have you ever thought you would love to research in Salt Lake City?

Hours of concentrated research with experts on hand?

Well - not Salt Lake City, but Auckland City!!

No long flights! Number's limited

Bringing SLC 2 NZ!!

A chance to have your family the subject of concentrated 'pressure cooker' research!

A long weekend Genealogy Retreat! Friday afternoon to Monday afternoon

A chance to win a week's free accommodation at the Salt Lake Plaza in SLC!!

Everyone will win a prize - software, sub etc

This is not a brick-wall breaking weekend, though this could likely happen.

This is learning to use pay2view sites - findmypast, The Genealogist, Ancestry, Origins Network, FamilyRelatives, MyHeritage. Scotlands People. Lost Cousins. And especially FamilySearch.

How to use your genealogy software and especially Charting Companion How to research.

How to Sight, Site, Cite your WWW on the WWW!!

Live Webinar from the Family History Library in SLC.

Pre Retreat research advise. Help with genealogy program? Yes, yes, yes!

Collaborate, Corroborate, Coordinate

Email SLC2NZ@genealogy.net.nz to claim a place and for more information

Sponsors for the weekend are Salt Lake Plaza Hotel, findmypast, FamilyRelatives, FamilySearch, Mocavo, MyHeritage, Progeny Software, Origins, Scotland's People, The Genealogist, Legacy, RootsMagic, Ancestry, Lost Cousins.

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John’s Historical Connections

Have you ever visited an old building and wondered what it may have been like living or working in it during earlier days. Sadly, many of us who have lived longer than others have seen many older buildings demolished. Yes, we all have memories of old places from our past and fortunately we have a Historic Places Act which can be used to provide some protection.

I have recently been involved in trying to ensure some older buildings are restored outwardly close to the original, and inwardly to be of future benefit for the local community. These are two old barrack blocks at Fort Takapuna (170 Vauxhall Rd, Devonport).

This is how the barracks have been since the early 1990’s. Boarded and unusable.

In recent years with Iwi claims and Government and Council selling and giving away land and buildings without reference to local communities, historical buildings and places have been easy targets.

I am a member of the Auckland Coastal Defences Historic Trust – see www.forts.org.nz Over several years, we have made representations to many organizations to try and protect our local historical military heritage. While the buildings may not appeal aesthetically to the civil community, many ex servicemen have fond memories of living in these barrack blocks, with communal sleeping areas, and ablutions. There are many stories about the “happenings” in the barracks.

Fortunately we managed, along with others, to get the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board interested in restoring the two heritage-listed barracks at Fort Takapuna, Narrow Neck, for use as community spaces.

The barracks, were built in 1939, and used until the 1990’s, providing accommodation for thousands of soldiers both in preparing for war and peace. They are a significant part of Devonport’s military history.

The restoration was funded by Devonport-Takapuna Local Board.

The restoration included:

Re-roofing, structural and insulation works
New kitchen and bathroom areas
Landscaping

The two very special heritage buildings are now restored and will soon be available for the community to enjoy.

The two barracks now have large hall spaces and smaller rooms that groups can hire and use for a range of activities, from fitness classes to meetings. The community spaces are scheduled to open in June.

The project brought together several of the objectives stated in the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board Plan. These include cherishing the area’s heritage and providing facilities that enable community wellbeing.

Devonport-Takapuna Local Board Chair Mike Cohen, pictured here, says the project will provide highly valued community spaces for local residents, organisations and groups to use, as well as preserving a key part of Devonport’s strong military heritage.

“We are really fortunate that this opportunity arose to recognise our coastal military heritage,” he says.

“We were able to restore and save these buildings from neglect and they can be used constructively for community organisations.”

This story is published in the hope that others within FamNet can use it as example of how to protect historical places and spaces for the future. The lessons are:

· Try and get a Historic Places classification.

· Find a future use for the community.

· Get your local politicians onside and badger them gently and frequently.

· Be patient, good things take time, and if at first you do not succeed, try a different approach.

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Community

Information Wanted etc.

Remember that you can post photos for identification, and information wanted requests:-

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We’ll post the photos and information requests in the next newsletter, and they’ll remain on display for at least a year.

Can anybody help David with this?

Hi - my name is David Mullin - here’s hoping I’ve clicked on the right place to post an Information/advice request in your publication. Please redirect this if I’ve chosen incorrectly.

An Irish great uncle of mine was Thomas Brown (born near Cootehill, Cavan in 1859. His father was Thomas Brown (1810-1906) & his mother Margaret Williamson (1815-1867) Thos jr married Rachel Noble (1856-?) in 1885 in Castleblaney, Ireland and they soon emigrated to New Zealand.

On May 19th 1893 a daughter Selina Mary, was born and the birth register for Ashburton NZ indicates she was born at Windermere and that Thomas was a farmer.

On Dec 20th 1916 Selina May was married to James Davison, a farmer who lived in Hinds. The marriage register is from the district of Whangamomona (ITEM #7523) . The marriage was performed by A.N. Norris (Presbyterian) & states that the marriage took place at Hurimoana in the residence of Thomas Brown.

I have been able to trace Selina - widowed in 1925 with 5 children, remarried & died in 1945.

But from my home in Canada and doing research online, I have located Hurimoana Stream & swamp but have not located any records attached to that local nor can I find any further records of THOMAS AND RACHEL BROWN. If any of your readers might have access to death records, burial records, local histories I would be grateful. And any advice would be most welcome.

THANK YOU

David Mullin

davidmullin@ripnet.com

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In conclusion

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